NGC 4762: A Galaxy on the Edge: APOD: 2014 November 5 - NGC 4762: A Galaxy on the Edge
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2014 November 5
 Explanation: Why is there a bright line on the sky? What is pictured above is actually a disk 
galaxy being seen almost perfectly edge on. The image from the 
Hubble Space Telescope is a spectacular visual reminder of just how 
thin disk galaxies can be. NGC 4762, a galaxy in the nearby 
Virgo Cluster of Galaxies, is so thin that it is actually 
difficult to determine what type of disk galaxy it is. Its lack of a visible dust lane indicates that it is a low-dust 
lenticular galaxy, although it is still possible that a view from on top would reveal spiral structure. The unusual stellar line spans about 100,000 
light years from end to end. Near 
NGC 4762's center is a slight bulge of stars, while 
many background galaxies are visible far in the distance. Galaxies that 
appear this thin are rare mostly because our Earth must reside (nearly) in the extrapolated 
planes of their thin galactic disks. Galaxies that actually 
are this thin are relatively common -- for example our own 
Milky Way Galaxy is thought to be about this 
thin.